LeBron on Being Criticized For Resting: ‘Popovich Has Been Doing it For Years’ (VIDEO)

Unlike any other player before him, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has been heavily criticized for sitting out a few games. And the whole situation was made even worse when one of those games was nationally televised against the Los Angeles Clippers.

On Tuesday, Bron was asked about all that criticism. He suggested that literally nobody brought this up as an issue until he started doing it. He also noted that San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had been doing it for years—and when he was doing it, he was seen as a genius.

“I don’t under why it’s become a problem … because I started to sit out a couple of games?” LeBron said. “It is the case. It’s absolutely the case. Come on, man. Listen, Pop’s been doing this for 10 years, 12 years, 15 years, and everybody was like, you know what, that’s the smartest thing Pop has ever done. You know, give his guys a couple of games off, and then they go win five championships. It’s the smartest thing. But some of the coaches in our league don’t have the stature that Pop has, and our coach doesn’t have it, so he gets killed for it.”